River Forest's `History Lady' Has The Answers

Jan Novak-Dressel had been a teacher. She knew it was often difficult for young students to connect with their history lessons.

The names, places and dates were too impersonal.

"I felt kids really needed a tactile way to connect with the past," says Novak-Dressel, 44, who lives in River Forest. "It's almost beyond their imagination unless they have some clues to help them."

As a volunteer (nicknamed the "History Lady") for The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest, she decided she had those clues.

"My idea was to make the learning experience more of a `mystery session' by using antiques," she says. "Kids could make connections by identifying the antique, its purpose and then figuring out what we now use in its place."

Novak-Dressel is doing just that in 35 visits to elementary schools in Oak Park and River Forest this year.

"Jan's method of teaching-using fun and interesting antiques-provides the children with a lifeline to understanding," says Drenda Cass, a 3rd-grade teacher at Lincoln School in River Forest.

"Take for instance the mustache cup. At first the children were clueless. Then Jan explained to them that men drank from these cups to keep their mustaches from getting wet. She showed them old photographs of men with curly, bushy mustaches, and it all started to make sense to them."

Novak-Dressel also encourages the children to touch and examine the antiques, which are part of the historical society's collection. Most of the antiques are from the late 1800s and indigenous to the Midwest. Things such as kitchen implements, clothing and toys are popular items that elicit the strongest responses from the children.

An item that usually generates considerable interest is a 22-inch-waist corset. "This is a big hit with the kids. They always start off giggling and then wind up asking me a million questions."

To demonstrate how tight-fitting a corset is, Novak-Dressel has a pupil try it on over her blouse.

"Believe me, there aren't many 12-year-olds who can squeeze into one of these," she says, laughing. "It fits like a straitjacket, and the children are always amazed that women actually wore these things. In an odd sort of way, it gives them some insight into a woman's role back then-why women were relegated to doing only certain tasks.

"I'll never forget the reaction of one little girl when I asked her what she thought of corsets. After pondering it a moment, she let out a big sigh and said, `Horrible! I wouldn't wear one. All I'd be able to do is sit and breathe!' "

But more effective than any corset is Novak-Dressel's big surprise of the presentation: 97-year-old Buffie Austin, whose words bring the area's early history to life.

Austin was born in Ohio but has been an Oak Park resident for most of her life. She was a substitute teacher at Oak Park and River Forest High School for 33 years and is a member or former member of nearly every social and civic organization in Oak Park. She was a close friend of writer Ernest Hemingway's eldest sister, Marcelline, who also lived in Oak Park.

"I love talking with the little ones and filling them in on some of the local lore," Austin says. "If you've been a teacher as long as I have, it's hard to give it up. I intend to share everything I know, everything I can remember with the children so that someday they'll pass it along to their own children."

Since 1989, Austin has been giving a firsthand account of what Oak Park and River Forest were like back "in the old days." Last year, she accompanied Novak-Dressel to about half the schools she visited.

"Buffie is one of the most fascinating people I know," Novak-Dressel says. "We met through the historical society, of which she's been a member for many years. She's lived a colorful life. At one point, she knew just about everyone in town. She has an excellent memory for detail and loves to tell a good story. She enjoys talking about everything: her childhood, her schooling, the events that shaped her life-even the local gossip back then.

"Frankly, I can't think of a better way to teach children history. Buffie helps them understand who they are and where they came from. I just wish there was someone like her back when I was a kid."

Novak-Dressel was born and grew up in North Riverside. She is a 1967 graduate of Riverside-Brookfield Township High School. She received a bachelor's degree in American studies in 1971 from Knox College in Galesburg and a master's degree in education from National College of Education (now National-Louis University) in Evanston five years later. After that, she taught several grades at an elementary school in Oak Park for eight years.

She and her husband, Chuck, have been married for 17 years and have three children, ages 6 to 13. They own and operate an Oak Park hardware store that has been in her husband's family since 1922.

She and Chuck Dressel met when she was shopping in his hardware store. At the time she was the resident caretaker of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park.